


Wet Sand

by carolion



Series: 5 Hawaii 5-0 AUs I Have No Business Writing [2]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, M/M, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-12
Updated: 2012-01-12
Packaged: 2017-10-29 09:41:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/318509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolion/pseuds/carolion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Second of a series of AUs: the one where Danny's family goes to Hawaii on vacation. Inspired by the line: "Who doesn't like the beach?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wet Sand

**Author's Note:**

> Rated Teen for language. This AU is completely unrelated to the previous one in the series. This is just a collection of different ways Danny and Steve could have met, but didn't.

"I hate Hawaii," Danny says sullenly, squinting in the sun as his mother slathers sunblock along his shoulders, her brow knit with concentration.

"How can you hate Hawaii? It's awesome here," Mattie counters. He's taken to the family vacation much, much better than Danny has. He's got a stupid pair of sunglasses on, and a stupid smile, and he's stupidly chasing all the local girls and flirting with all the stupid tourist girls, and even though he's only thirteen, he's getting way more tail than Danny is, and Danny hates that too.

Danny glares at him. It seems he's the only one in his family who doesn't like it here, since all his siblings seem to like the sand and the sun and the surf. But Danny doesn't like swimming, and he doesn't want to learn how to boogie board, and he's sick of passing the locals and getting these _looks_ like, _'Another fucking tourist'_ , as if tourism didn't stimulate their stupid fucking economy anyway.

"I'm going for a walk," he announces, shifting up from the towel his family had spread out on the beach, and yet still feeling sand granules clinging to his thighs and calves, even under his (dumb) swim trunks. Another reason to hate Hawaii - the sand really did get _everywhere_.

"Don't go too far," his mother calls out distractedly, but she's already got her nose buried in a magazine, and he can't see her face for the wide brim of her sunhat, so he starts off down the beach.

Walking in the sand is annoying, but it feels good to stretch his muscles, and eventually he gets the hang of it, establishes kind of a rhythm. He walks until the beach isn't so crowded, until the squeals and laughter of children aren't quite so loud and there are far less pale, swimsuited mainlanders sprawled on their beach towels, lounging in the sun trying to get skin cancer. Danny will never understand the obsession with tanning, as if having darker skin made you more or less attractive - it never made sense to him, and it never will.

He plops down in the shade of a palm tree, squinting up to check if a rogue coconut is going to fall from above and crush his skull, because this shitty island is just one deathtrap after another.

It is kind of okay though, sitting there watching the waves and watching the people. There are people out in the ocean with surf boards, and they actually look like they know what they're doing, riding the surf like it isn't fucking dangerous, but like it's fun, like it's easy. Danny watches a few of them wipe out hard though and winces in sympathy, shaking his head.

He watches as someone, tall but skinny, and carrying a surf board under his arm, trots out of the waves and up the beach almost directly in front of him, watches as he shakes out his dark, shaggy hair, and sticks his board in the sand, giving a cursory glance around. And that's when he seems to spot Danny, his gaze going focused and sharp. Danny instantly feels stupid for staring, but tucked high on the beach like this, it was hard not to feel like he was in his own world, invisible to the people he was watching.

"Aloha brah," the other teenager calls, jogging the few steps closer to Danny. "Howsit?"

Danny blinks at him.

"Seriously? Are you speaking English? What is wrong with you?" He snaps, scowling. He's annoyed because this is the first friendly contact he's had with a stranger this entire time, and he can't even understand what the moron is trying to _say_.

The stranger just laughs, tilting his head back, and Danny squints up and can see that he's still wet from surfing, rivulets of water running down his neck, and his chest, and then he tears his eyes away because - _no_.

The stranger collapses down into the sand by him - not too close, but still closer than any random surfer 'brah' has a right to be - and runs a hand through his messy wet hair. Danny leans away automatically.

"Not from around here, huh?" There's the hint of a smirk on his face, and Danny purses his lips, already annoyed by this loose-limbed, too-tanned person with the unruly surfer hair and the weird muscular structure of a boy who grew too fast but still worked too hard at being fit to look gangly. He's unfairly attractive, and though he isn't Hawaiian, he's clearly a local which puts him at an advantage in Danny's eyes.

"Gee what gave it away," Danny asks in a dead pan, burying his bare feet in the sand even though he knows he'll regret it later.

"I'm Steve," the stranger introduces himself, leaning forward and offering a hand, breezily ignoring Danny's glib remark, "Steve McGarrett. You look miserable. You don't like the beach?"

Danny takes the hand without really thinking, forgetting in one flash that he's trying to appear as unfriendly as possible. "Danny Williams. I _am_ miserable. I don't like the beach."

Steve makes a face. "Who doesn't like the beach?"

"I don't like the beach," Danny repeats stubbornly, jutting his chin out a little. Steve gives him an assessing look.

"Can I change your mind?" He asks, and Danny's definitely not imagining that glint in his eye. He spends a split second wondering if Steve McGarrett is going to make his life a living hell, before nodding his assent - he never could back down from a challenge, and he isn't about to start now.


End file.
